


so give me a run for my money (sipping bubbly, feeling lovely)

by consistently_inconsistent



Series: good kids, mad city (urbanct au) [1]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: 2000 line are seniors, Chensung are juniors, Class Differences, Established Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Mark Lee, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Light Angst, M/M, Marks taking a gap year where he contemplates college, Rich Zhong Chen Le, Underage Drinking, Underage Drug Use, also, also 'this might be love' by neohuangs on ao3, but its more in the way the story's written and less in the plot, chenle loves his friends, everyone else is well living the urban life, his parents don't, i gave jaemin a nose ring cos i felt like it :)), im sorry the world is burning and im growing up and i needed to write this, inner city au basically, inspired by @rxjuns urbanct au on tumblr and political rap music and also lorde, rated t because i use my extensive knowledge of drugsss, renjun has a bunch of siblings!!!, this fic is my baby please be nice to her, urbanct au, world building cos thats always fun
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-31
Updated: 2020-01-31
Packaged: 2021-02-27 10:15:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,417
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22225480
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/consistently_inconsistent/pseuds/consistently_inconsistent
Summary: Jisung never saw him and his friends as bad influences.Sure, sometimes Jeno smoked his cigarettes or Jaemin hooked up with one too many boys. Maybe Renjun had vandalised a ton of property with his paints, and sure, on occasion, Mark and Donghyuck would get stoned as fuck at open mics - but all of this came with the territory. You can't raise a child in a place like Inner Neo City and expect them to come out unscathed.And at least Jisung really and honestly was a good kid. (There was a reason he was Chenle's parents' favourite.)Nevertheless, they didn't like sending off their son every afternoon, and Jisung got it to a certain extent, even he'd seen Chenle grow more rebellious - but while Jisung understood where Chenle's parents were coming from, he also kinda liked it, a lot actually. It was like putting a mark on the boy. Every time Chenle dyed his hair a new parent disapproved color or broke his 9 p.m curfew just to spend that extra half hour stargazing with Jisung, made him feel like their vastly different worlds were made similar simply because both had the other in it.Jisung's world would always have space for Chenle, and he knew that Chenle's would always have space for him.
Relationships: Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Mark Lee, Park Jisung/Zhong Chen Le
Series: good kids, mad city (urbanct au) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1599835
Comments: 20
Kudos: 167





	so give me a run for my money (sipping bubbly, feeling lovely)

**Author's Note:**

> inspired by @rxjuns urbanct au on tumblr and fuelled by political unrest and rap music (enjoy)

Sometimes how different Chenle's life was from the rest of theirs was excessively obvious.

Like now, when the boy had come to pick them up from school, standing excitedly just outside the school-gates. He was in the uniform they made him wear at the private school he attended 45 minutes away from the inner city, white shirt slightly crushed after a day at school, tucked into checked red and black pants cuffed at the ends in typical Chenle fashion (which he'd adopted from Jaemin), and the red and gold striped tie wound around his collar peeking out from under his cream coloured vest, lined with maroon borders. Chenle didn't particularly like flaunting how much wealth he had, especially because no one else in town had much of any, but the uniform was a dead giveaway, not to mention the fact that Chenle was fairly infamous around these parts as is.

Chenle, seemingly oblivious to the looks and stares being thrown his way by Jisung's schoolmates, just waved back happily, cheeks as rosy and smile as bright as they always were. He looked like he didn't belong here, with grey buildings and dirty streets in the background, Chenle looked like he belonged in rolling green meadows and picturesque suburbs. Chenle deserved \more than even that, at least if you asked Jisung. In contrast to Chenle, Jisung and his friends looked like typical inner-city kids. With their clothes carelessly thrown on and fairly ill-fitting, hair dishevelled, nails dirty, skin dry - nothing much to look at really.

Renjuns clothes were characteristically covered in miscellaneous dashes of paint, a particularly prominent splash of red on the bottom of his old, oversized t-shirt that probably belonged to his older brother Winwin, which he'd dirtied while spraying all of their initials onto the cemented 'park' they played soccer in. Jeno's hand was wrapped in a cloth bandage because of a particularly badly placed punch he'd thrown during lunch at a boy who'd hit on Jaemin's younger sister, Lami, ceaselessly for about a week despite already being repeatedly rejected, and was already reaching into his ratty old backup to pull out a pack of suspicious-looking cigarettes he'd pocketed at Kim's Convenience Store.

Jisung's owns pants were ripped at the knee, from when he'd tripped while playing soccer with Renjun and Jaemin on the cemented ground they used as a field, thankfully his knee itself was more or less unharmed, save for a small scratch already closing up and a bit of redness.

The three of them and Chenle were an odd sight, Chenle being clean and happy and bright, Jeno with a busted hand and a cigarette already lit and in his lips, Renjun with his heavy backpack full of spray paints and stained clothes, and Jisung, with his hair that he'd dyed a brown-pink colour in Jaemin's sink 2 nights ago, clutching the skateboard he'd found discarded three years ago near Chenle's house and managed to patch up with Mark and his dad at their shop.

Chenle attached himself to Jisung the moment the three of them approached the Chinese boy, it was a common sight, Chenle ducking down under Jisung's arm till it was placed around his shoulder and then shooting the taller a grin. "Hey Chenle," Renjun said with a smile, Jeno shot the boy a grin, the famous one where his eyes turned into crescents that always made people just a little bit surprised because it came Jeno - _Lee Jeno_ , infamous for punching you at the smallest provocation. Chenle's eyes dropped to Jeno's bandaged hand as he leaned his head onto Jisung's shoulder, he sighed softly, his breath fanning over Jisung's neck.

"What did you do this time?"

Renjun chuckled, "he was just being a good future brother in law."

Jeno shot the older a glare, "Shut it, Renjun," his eyes turned to Chenle, "and for your information, I punched an asshole."

Chenle's eyes shot up to Jisung as if asking him to verify Jeno's claim. Jisung chuckled, "Yeah," he said with a shrug, "some guy's been bothering Lami, Jeno just wasn't smart about punching him - hit the dude on his fucking head - he passed out but also Jeno might have broken his pinkie." Jeno scowled, staring down at his hand with something akin to disgust. Chenle just laughed that loud laugh he always had, high and chirpy, like a dolphin, Jisung liked it - no matter how much the rest of their friends complained about it.

"Oh, Jeno," Chenle said, shaking his head with that ever-present smile, "always doing Jaemin's dirty work - speaking of, where is he?" 

"He and Donghyuck ditched after lunch to meet Mark at the store," Renjun said as the four started walking away from school, "so he probably spent most of the past 3 hours third-wheeling, but Donghyuck's shift at SunShine Meals starts in thirty minutes so they're probably heading back their now." Chenle grinned, still pressed into Jisung side as the two of them followed behind Jeno, who'd mounted his families rusty bike - about as close to falling apart as Jisung's skateboard had been when he first found it - and was now riding the screeching vehicle as slowly as possible to match his friends walking pace to his best abilities. "Is that our destination for today, then?" Chenle asked, hand grabbing onto Jisung's which hung loosely on the shorter boys shoulder.

"Of course it is," Renjun said, "where else will we get the 'not only does our friend works here, his family also owns the place' discount?"

Chenle giggled, "and by 'discount' you mean we get food for free."

Jeno laughed from ahead, "you know it, rich boy!"

Back when they were younger the differences between Chenle and the rest of them were a lot less noticeable, at least for the seven of them. Back then, by the time they'd played for thirty minutes, _all_ their clothes were equally scruffy and _everyone's_ hair had just as many blades of drying grass in them.

Even back then Chenle had been bright and constantly smiling, Jisung had been quiet and observant, Donghyuck had been even louder than Chenle and maybe a good 20 times more annoying, Jaemin had been about as social as a six-year-old could be, Renjun had been as rebellious as a six-year-old could be, Jeno had still had an easily set off temper and was still surprisingly sensitive, and Mark had always just been, _older_ , like a big brother. Back then the fact that once winter came Chenle would come wearing woollen socks and winter boots while the rest of them came in the same thrift store sneakers their siblings had already owned before went unnoticed.

When High School came around the differences were more evident - but the most evident difference came in the form of Chenle's parents.

Somewhere around the beginning of Mark's sophomore year, SM City had gone from bad to worse, more drugs, more crime, less actually legal going ons. It reflected in his friends too, Jeno's bruises seamed to increase ever night and suddenly the letters 'HR' could be seen all over the city courtesy of one Huang Renjun. Chenle's parents, rich Chinese politicians that lived twenty minutes away from the inner city and held disdain for most things they weren't used to, grew more and more wary of Chenle's friends every day.

Still, Jisung never really saw him and his friends as bad influences.

Sure, sometimes Jeno smoked his cigarettes and came home with bloody knuckles after a particularly bad fight, or Jaemin hooked up with one too many boys after having one too many drinks and returned to school the next day wearing one of his turtlenecks. And yeah, maybe Renjun had vandalised the property of almost every adult and teenager he didn't like with his affinity for art and the fact that mark let him "borrow" the spray-paints they used to touch up cars - and speaking of Mark, perhaps on occasion, he and Donghyuck would get stoned as fuck before performing teen-angst riddled songs with their band at open mics - but all of this came with the territory.

You can't raise a child in a place like Inner Neo City and expect them to come out unscathed.

And at least Jisung really and honestly was a good kid. (There was a reason he was Chenle's parents' favourite.)

Nevertheless, they didn't like sending off their son with his friends every afternoon, and Jisung got it to a certain extent because even _he_ had seen Chenle grow more rebellious as the rest of them did too, soon after Jeno smoked his first cigarette and Jaemin had his first drunk kiss, Chenle was bleaching his hair and taking sips from Marks beers and taking part in political protests - but while Jisung understood where Chenle's parents were coming from, he also kinda liked Chenle's changing nature, a lot actually.

It was like putting a mark on the boy, on Jisung's best friend for as long as he could remember. Every time Chenle dyed his hair a new chemical colour his parents didn't approve of or broke his 9 o clock curfew just to spend that extra half hour stargazing with Jisung while their seniors got high, made him feel like he was part of Chenle, and that Chenle was part of him. Like they were imprinted onto each other - that their vastly different worlds, to some degree, however small, were made similar simply because both had the other in it.

Jisung's world would always have space for Chenle, and he knew full well that Chenle's world would always have space for him.

As they walked past Kim's Convenience, where Doyoung called out to Jeno to remind him he had a shift today and passed by The Velvet, where Joohyun shot them a smile from inside the stores immaculately cleaned windows, a familiar white truck, parked where it always was right in front of Donghyuck's housing complex, came into view. 

They spent a whole lot of their free time at SunShine Meals, the food truck Donghyuck's parents owned famous for its hotteok and notorious for attempting to fuse Mexican and Korean cuisine. Donghyuck worked there every weekday from 3:00 to 7:00, and every Saturday from 8:30 to 12:30, he didn't work on Sundays (his parents had made him work then too, back when he first started shifts in the 9th grade, but he'd whined so much and so loudly that eventually, they'd let it go).

The truck, throughout the years, had never changed - and for the most part, neither had its customers. It was the same off white colour it had been when Donghyuck's parents had bought it, although through the years it had gotten considerably more battered, there were small scratches and faded bits of paint, not to mention a small 'HR' sprayed onto the side of the van in yellow. The striped awning that fanned out over the serving area _had_ been changed over the years, originally red and white and now white and yellow, to match the sign Donghyuck's mom had had Renjun make for them in his freshman year, which read 'SunShine Meals Foodtruck!' with a picture of a sun and assorted menu items. Renjun scowled every time he saw it pointing out every little detail he'd fucked up when he painted the sign years ago, Jisung thought it looked great, even if the sign was visibly getting a little older. 

Similarly, very little change had come when it came to the trucks customers either. Sunny, Taeyeon and Jungwoo from the Lionheart Salon still popped by every lunch break, occasionally Johnny and Jaehyun (Jaemin's brother) - who ran The Night Night Barcade where Jisung and his friends spent a large chunk of their time - would come down, grab a Korean chicken taco and leave with smiles on their faces. Winwin, Renjun's older brother, and his group of friends had been coming since they were in high school, and they showed no signs of stopping anytime soon. The truck was a staple of their neighbourhood, a monument to their own little overcrowded, underfunded, but still very much loved, corner of the universe. 

Jaemin and Donghyuck had already reached by the time the four of them came, Donghyuck already in his apron and rushing around in the kitchen, and Jaemin leaning against the truck with the same mischievous, but always pretty, smile he usually had on his face, fiddling with the ring on his nose - which he'd very recently gotten pierced at the backend of Lionheart Salon, by Jungwoo. As they got closer Chenle ripped himself away from Jisung's arms and leapt onto Jaemin, who quickly grabbed Chenle before they both went crashing against the food truck. Jaemin laughed brightly, "nice to see you to Lele, what's it been, 48 hours?" 

Chenle pouted pulling himself away from Jaemin and returning to Jisung's side, "that's at least 44 hours too many."

Jisung chuckled, "you can't see Jaemin every 4 hours, Chenle," he said, patting the older's head affectionately.

Chenle stuck out his tongue, "Watch me."

Renjun leaned onto the Food truck next to Jaemin, who promptly pushed his head down onto the older's shoulder. Renjun rapped his knuckles twice against the vehicle and said, "Yo, Hyuckie! How did sucking tonsils with Mark go?" From inside the truck the words, "Fuck off, Renjun!" were heard loud and clear. Jaemin turned to the older, eyes mischievous, "it was disgusting, so it went great," Jaemin said with a snarky grin, ignoring Donghyuck's offended gasp, "for them at least." 

Chenle made his way to the counter where Donghyuck's most recent customer had just left with his order mumbling something about "kids these days", his eyes scanned the daily specials menu with bright excitement, Jisung, who'd been pulled along with Chenle, grinned at Donghyuck as the older boy contemplated whether he should get the classic Hotteok or the truck's new green tea flavoured option. "So, how's he doing?" Jisung asked as Donghyuck leaned over the counter, "any progress on whether or not he's attending college?" Donghyuck cupped his face in his hands looking wistful, "he wants to leave the city, for obvious reasons, and with his grades, I'm sure he'll have no problem getting accepted," Donghyuck said with a perplexed sigh, "but Mark's stubborn as hell - and kind of an idiot, so as long as he thinks his dad needs him even a little bit he's not going to budge."

Jisung was about to say something more when Chenle quickly jumped in with an "Okay, I've made my decision!"

Donghyuck's previously perplexed expression melted into an amused smile, "And what will that be?"

Chenle smiled, "One plate of green tea hotteok please!" He placed a 10000 won note on the counter, the 'keep the change' went unsaid, mostly because after countless Hotteoks and Tacos from SunShine Meals it didn't have to be. "You know it," Donghyuck said with a smile, snagging the note and ducking down to grab something. Chenle turned to Jisung with that pretty little smile of his, "want anything?" He said. Jisung smiled and shook his head. 

The First Time Jisung found Chenle really, really, pretty had been a year ago, one day late at night, after Chenle had already broken his curfew multiple times over and cut approximately 20 angry phone calls from his parents. The seven of them were stargazing on the cities only playground, a sad, badly managed cement ground that resembled an empty parking lot more than anything else, where generations of inner Neo City kids before them had built a skate ramp, a sandbox, and a makeshift play area out of tires that always looked like it was on the verge of falling apart but never did. The seven of them were laying on the ground. Jaemin, Renjun, Mark and Donghyuck passing around a joint, while Jeno, ever the traditionalist, sat breathing in his cigarettes with a contented smile on his face as Jaemin, Donghyuck and Renjun rambled on and on about who knows what in a marijuana fuelled haze and Mark simply leaned his head onto Donghyuck's shoulder and blasted music into his eardrums.

While now, their older friends would have easily let Jisung and Chenle have a puff or two, even a year ago, they wouldn't have let the two youngest boys even see how a blunt was rolled. Neither Jisung nor Chenle minded all that much, to be honest, Jisung was perfectly content staring at the stars with his hand in Chenle's, while the older pointed out shapes he'd found in the stars infinitely more interesting than the ones you were taught about in classrooms, giggling every now on then when one of their intoxicated friends said something particularly, well, intoxicated. 

That was the first day that he realised that Chenle was beautiful to Jisung in a way the rest of his friends just weren't. He wasn't in your face, almost feminine, pretty the way Jaemin was, nor was he youthful in his attractiveness, boyish like Mark or mischievous Renjun. He wasn't coldly attractive like Jeno was either (at least until Jeno smiled), or pretty in a non-traditional, unique, almost exotic way, like Donghyuck. Chenle was pretty in a way that felt completely and utterly: Chenle.

Chenle was long eyes and full lips, delicate features and hair fluffy and looked after better than Mark, Donghyuck, Renjun, Jeno, Jaemin and Jisung's hair put together. Chenle was pretty in the sense that when he smiled there was nothing but him, nothing but Chenle, and his lips pulled wide and his eyes curled into crescents, and that familiar tinkling sound of laughter - and Jisung couldn't get enough of it. Not since that day, on the playground, where Jisung had found Chenle, even after a whole day of activity and under the frankly unflattering bright lights that shined on the ground, unbelievably pretty.

Jisung was never really in touch with his emotions, nor did he spend much time thinking them through. It was hard to when you woke up every day worried about whether or not someone would be stupid enough to bring a gun to school or whether the final eviction notice after months of not being able to pay bills would show up at your door. Jisung and his friends, growing up in a place like Inner Neo City, weren't children very long, and teenage years came with the additional factor of high school, and drugs, and parties, and friends, so, Jisung never really understood what he felt, nor did he try really.

All he knew was that whatever he felt for Chenle was all-encompassing.

When Chenle was there, nothing and no one else mattered - at least not as much as Chenle did.

They spent three hours at SunShine Meals while Donghyuck attending to his shift. The five of them - Renjun, Jeno, Jaemin, Jisung and Chenle - sat where they always did, behind the truck, so they didn't scare away all of Donghyuck's potential customers. Renjun and Jaemin were sharing a taco, a new prototype Donghyuck's mom was testing, and Jeno had finally put away the cigarettes, and was instead indulging in a plate of hotteok. Jisung, ever so occasionally, stole a bite from Chenle.

"So, what's the plan for today," Chenle said, "because I for one have no interest in going home."

Jeno chuckled, reaching over and ruffling Jisungs hair, "well, my shift starts at 7, which means that the moment Hyuck's off the hook I'm on." Jaemin shot Jisung an apologetic smile, "I have work too - and I can't skip this time or Jungwoo, as lovely as he is, will actually have my ass." Renjun chuckled, "it _is_ a nice ass." Jaemin scowled smacking the older against his head, "shut up there are kids here." Chenle giggled, "I for one have no plans - well, I do, but I'm for sure not in the mood for piano class." Jisung chuckled at the older, "they're still forcing you to go, huh?"

Chenle pouted, "uh-huh," he sighed.

From an outside perspective, Chenle really had no business in the inner city. It was a view shared from both Jisung and Chenle's sides of society too. Jisung often saw his classmates scowl after seeing Chenle at the school-gates, remarking about " _that fucking kid_ " and " _privileged asshole_ " and " _I wonder why Jaemin and Jeno's little group put up with him_ ". Jisung supposed that had he not known Chenle he'd be in the same boat, these parts didn't look kindly at rich people or politicians for that matter, Chenle was a product of both.

Chenle's side of things was as bad though, the few times Jisung had come to pick Chenle up from his school he'd heard people sneer at him, _"what's that guy doing here?"_ and _"probably here to mess up Zhong"_ and " _ugh look at him, no wonder Chenle's the way he is_ " - and while Chenle stood out like a sore thumb in Inner Neo City, with his clean clothes and rosy cheeks, it appeared he stood out just as much at school - just in an opposite way, bright orange hair and pierced ears in a sea of boring brown.

Ah, the pierced ears - the first time Chenle's parents got _really_ mad at him and the first time his classmates _really_ stared. Jisung never understood why, he always thought Chenle looked unendingly pretty with those little silver studs in his ears, occasionally he borrowed a dangly one of Jaemin too, that hung off his ear and grazed his neck and shoulder in a way that looked nothing short of angelic. 

Nevertheless, Jisung knew full well Chenle had very few friends at school, not because the younger was in any way antisocial or disliked, instead almost completely due to a lack of trying on Chenle's part. The boy had remarked hundreds of times about how even though his schoolmates were all brilliantly read and put together, none of them had a shred of personality in their bodies. Jisung found it strange how those kids and Chenle, who was ripping at the seams with spontaneity and brightness, came from the same background. Nevertheless, Jisung knew that he and the gang were pretty much the only friends in Chenle's life, at least the only ones that really mattered to the older boy. 

"Well lucky for you kids I am completely free - and I know Donghyuck is too but he's probably going to try and talk some sense into Mark," Renjun said, "lucky for you two," he grinned widely at Jisung and Chenle, "I have a project I'm going to attempt today and I think you two are just the help I need."

Chenle perked up even more if that was possible, and Jisung grinned widely at the older boy, "sure!" They said in sync.

At the same time Jaemin, with an appropriately perplexed look on his face, said, "try not to get them in too much trouble, Jun," elbowing the shorter lightly, "or yourself for that matter - you've had more than enough almost run-ins with the police at this point, and I really don't want to have to add 'meet Renjun at Juvie' to my already unending list of tasks." Renjun just smirked at the younger and held a thumbs up, Jeno chuckled shaking his head, whacking the oldest boy on his shoulder, "dumbass," he mumbled good-naturedly.

Jaemin, still completely unconvinced - and rightfully so, turned to Jisung, "keep an eye on him, will you?" Jisung grinned.

"Okay, _mom_."

"Hey, Jisung's like two years younger than me!" Renjun exclaimed, offence clear on his face. 

"Yea, but you don't see him getting almost arrested everyday now do you?" Jeno deadpanned

"So what exactly do you have planned for today?" Chenle asked happily, walking arm in arm with Jisung, as they followed Renjun into streets and alleys that looked progressively more and more dangerous. Jisung had pretty good survival instincts, it came with growing up in the inner city, and his were yelling at him to not follow Renjun any further, not when he had preciously naive, and often targeted, Chenle on his arm and the possibility of a mugger, murderer, or something worse right around every corner.

Renjun on the other hand, who Jisung knew could handle himself just as well as Jisung could despite being significantly shorter, looked completely confident in wherever he was leading the two younger boys. So Jisung, against everything his brain was telling him, followed Renjun warily but without complaint, his grip on Chenle's hand extra strong as Renjun weaved them through the labyrinth of frayed buildings and dirty streets that was Inner Neo City. Renjun slowed on the side of a familiar looking, mostly empty, worn out building - Jisung had no idea whether he'd really see the building before, around these parts of all of them looked pretty much the same.

Renjun grinned looking up the side of the building, it was, as all buildings in Neo City were, grey and badly maintained, the already shoddy paint job faded and chipping around the corners. Renjun had a familiar excited glint in his, Jisung was all too familiar with that look, and what it entailed.

"So," Chenle grinned, clearly also in the loop now, "you dragged us out here for a new art project."

Renjun kneeled onto the ground, fiddling around his backup, "well, you practically skipped over here, I wouldn't call that dragging."

"Semantics," Chenle shrugged, before clumsily grabbing a bottle of red spray paint thrown his way.

Jisung smiled, running his hands against the side of the wall, "what are you going to be painting then, any ideas or is this just a freestyle?" Renjun chuckled, "nope it's all planned out this time," he said, procuring a pencil from the back pocket of his shorts that ended too far below his knees to really be considered shorts anymore, "but this one's going to big and there's no way I'm going to be done in a day, I may not even be done by the time me, Nana, Hyuck and Jeno graduate," he said, pausing with a finger on his lips and looking intently at the blank wall, "take this as what'll potentially be my final project - before I attempt to get the fuck out of this shitty city, at least."

Jisung smiled to himself, they'd all discussed leaving Inner Neo City - they'd discussed it too many times to count at this point. By now, all of them knew who'd be doomed to stay and who'd be able to actually get out of the inner city - and as far as the getting out list went, Renjun was most definitely at the top. None of that made the fact that they were going to separated eventually any less heart-shatteringly terrifying. 

Renjun tapped his pencil against the wall, "I should get a good chunk of the drawing done by today though, 2 of you are here already." Chenle turned to Jisung, the confusion evident in his knit eyebrows and squinted eyes. Jisung thought he looked cute - Chenle always looked cute. Jisung shrugged, walking over to stand next to the older boy as Renjun stared at the wall, the gears in his head spinning so fast Jisung could practically hear them. Chenle shrugged to himself, "So how exactly can we help?" Chenle said, eyes not leaving the oldest boy as he paced around the wall marking various spots with his pencil. Renjun waved his hand over his shoulder mindlessly, "Just do what I always ask you guys to do, keep a look out."

Jisung and Chenle looked to each other, shrugged, and slid down the opposing wall until they were sitting side by side on the street - slightly dirty, but dry, so it wasn't all that bad. The wall Renjun was pacing wasn't particularly tall, but it was wide and stretched across the street the way so many of Renjun's preferred graffiti walls did. Chenle, in a swift, quick, motion, linked his pinkie with Jisung's and leaned his forehead onto the taller's shoulder, eyes keenly watching Renjun as he started sketching ovals and lines that Chenle and Jisung, with their more than subpar knowledge of art techniques, desperately analysed in an attempt to figure out what exactly the chinese boy was trying to make.

Slowly, the lines started to take on shape, long eyes and hair parted down the middle, a nose, cheeks, a pair of smiling lips. Jisung broke into a smile as he realised what Renjun was making - or, more accurately who. "Is that-" Jisung to a pause to chuckle, "is that Chenle?" The shorter boy, who had almost drifted off on Jisung's shoulder at this point, almost jumped upwards, eyes quickly shifting towards the wall. Chenle let out a gasp, his lips turning into a wide one, the widest one Jisung knew he was capable of making, the one when his eyes almost curled into crescents and his lips spread so wide Jisung feared his face with slip in half. "Renjun?" Chenle finally stuttered out, the glee evident in his voice.

The oldest boy simply turned around with a small smile on his lips and winked at Chenle and Jisung. 

They stayed like that for a little over hour, watching Renjun add lines and details to Chenle's face before finally moving to Jisung, looking slightly to his right (where Chenle was in Renjun's drawing), with that smile he always had when he was trying desperately to hide how happy he actually was. Renjun, after approximately an hour and a half of pencil sketching on the rough wall, let out a happy little huff and said, "okay kids, I'm all done for today - now lets go before it gets properly dark and this place starts living up to how suspicious it looks."

Jisung stretched his arms over his head before standing up and extending his arms downwards to Chenle, "I don't understand why you can't paint in nice, safe, locations," he said with a huff as he pulled Chenle upwards. "Name a nice, safe place I can vandalise without getting arrested and I'll stop immediately." Renjun replied, slipping his frayed backpack onto his shoulders. Jisung opened his mouth to reply to the older , but clamped it shut it in a matter of seconds, frowning deeply upon the realisation that Huang Renjun was, in fact, right.

Chenle just giggled and weaved his arms with Renjun and Jisungs, grinning widely. "Come on I'm tired, let's go get ice cream."

"What are you so tired for? You and Jisung just sat there - I was the only one actually doing anything!"

Renjun took off soon after the trio picked up ice cream bars from Kim's Convenience, saying a prompt hello to Jeno who was doing his job with a stony face and evident annoyance at an old women attempting to buy something the store had apparently run out of. Jisung had no intention of going home, and considering how relentless Chenle's grip on his hand was, the shorter boy had no such plans either. After they dropped Renjun off at his house, an over-crowded, inadequately small bungalow that housed a total of 7 people - including Renjun, his parents, his oldest brother Sicheng, the twins; Dejun and Yuqi, and his grandmother - which was altogether too many people for a house that size.

When they arrived to drop Renjun off the house was characteristically loud and noisy - a perplexed looking Sicheng opened the door and the distinct voices of Yuqi and Dejun yelling at each other rang in the background. Neither Dejun nor Yuqi were argumentative by nature, they were just a year older than Renjun and had been in the same grade as Mark, Jisung knew them both fairly well - and he didn't know a single pair of people who argued so much with each other but not one bit with anyone else. Renjun waved them off, recieving a quick hug from Chenle, before stepping into the house and promptly yelling something in rapid, angry mandarin.

Chenle giggled to himself and Jisung looked down at the shorter boy with a questioning gaze.

"Sicheng stole one of his new art pens for a new tattoo design."

Jisung nodded solemnly, "yea, that sounded like an appropriate Renjun reaction to something like that."

Chenle laughed, staring fondly at the rundown house, before once again linking his hands with Jisung and staring up at the younger boy with big eyes and a pout. "Jisung," he said solemnly, "I have no interest in going home now whatsoever - please don't leave." Jisung rolled his eyes with a giggle and whacked the back of Chenle's head making the older boy's pout grow larger, "relax, you big baby, c'mon, I wanna go to the playground." Chenle's pout only grew, "don't call me a baby I'm older than you!" Jisung laughed, grabbing Chenle's hand in his, "by like two months! Now come on."

They laughed at each other a bit and made their way to the 'playground' mostly in silence. It was comfortable, as it always was with Chenle. They walked hand in hand, Chenle occasionally swining their arms up and down childishly, humming as they walked through the streets. The sound was entirely unlike their surroundings, soft and sweet, whereas the route leading up to the so-called playground where Chenle and Jisung had spent most of their childhoods was loud and grimy and altogether kind of annoying. But it was nostalgic and filled to the brim with memories, some bad, but a lot good.

The playground, if you could call it that, was where Jisung had first figured that whatever he felt for Chenle was more than well, friendship. It was different, not bigger or smaller than what he felt for the rest, just different. Warmer in a way, a warmth that filled up his chest and rose up to his face in a way that Jisung couldn't stop from pouring out. Keeping the warmth in would have been tough, but it was Chenle - and nothing was ever tough with Chenle, all Jisung had to was grab Chenle's hand or lean his head onto the older's shoulder, Chenle would let out that bright, lovely laugh, and any sense of discomfort or difficulty or suffocation would fade away, and there would be nothing but the infinite warmth in his chest that came from Zhong Chenle. 

It was getting dark now, the moon just about visible and a few outlier stars shone in the sky. Once they reached the playground Chenle promptly sat himself on the ground, legs stretched out in front of him, and patted the area next to him signalling for Jisung to sit down. Jisung, of course, obliged, settling next to the older in the same position as him, so their legs were pressed against each other and the edges of Chenle's hair tickled Jisung's lips and ears. Chenle sighed contently leaning onto Jisung so he had a shoulder full of fluffy orange hair, he looked up, eyes meeting Jisung, and smiled. That broad, full, heart stopping smile, with those bright, starry eyes and those pink, happy, lips. And Jisung, well, he followed his instincts.

It was like the universe pulled him down, so his nose was touching Chenle's and Chenle's nose was touching his. It didn't pull him down any lower though. The position was strange, and slightly uncomfortable, but after a second of wide, confused eyes, Chenle's smile turned soft and smaller and he placed his hands gently on either side of Jisung's face as he pulled himself up off Jisung's shoulder and onto his lap instead, legs on either side of Jisung's and chest flushed against chest. Jisung let out a light laugh, "hi," he said.

Chenle, eyes never leaving Jisung's, smiled - that heart-shattering, gut-wrenching smile - and leaned forward.

Chenle's lips felt like everything else about Chenle, soft and warm and _right_. So, so, right.

So right that when Chenle moved away from his lips after a far too short 10 second kiss, moving his arms down from Jisung's face to his chest with an unsure, almost worried, look on his face, Jisung, in less than a second, placed a hand on Chenle's cheek and leaned forward once again, planting his free arm onto Chenle's waist and smiling as he felt Chenle do the same. Kissing Chenle felt as all encompassing as Chenle's smile. In that moment, there was nothing but Chenle - but this time, Jisung was there as well. There was nothing but Chenle's lips on his and Chenle's arms on Jisung's chest, slowly inching upwards to his shoulders and eventually around his neck, playing with the hair on the bottom of his nape. 

It was soft for a while, until Chenle pushed himself further into Jisung and the younger boy let out a low groan, pushing his tongue against Chenle's teeth and a second later, after Chenle opened his mouth just a little, Jisung kissed Chenle deeper than he'd ever kissed anyone before. Chenle let out little gasps and soft sounds, holding onto Jisung's neck for dear life, and Jisung did the same with Chenle, arm wrapping around his waist and cupping his cheeks as if he was an anchor that stopped Jisung from floating away in the utter bliss that was Chenle. They pulled apart for a second, Chenle's lips red and shiny and just a bit swollen, panting just a little bit. His eyes were wild and bewildered, but as starry and blissful and happy as ever. After a second of silence, of looking down at each other with an emotion neither couldn't entirely name, Chenle broke into a smile, _that_ smile, and soon Jisung followed suit.

"Your parents are going to kill me," he said with a soft, quiet chuckle, running his thumb across Chenle's cheek.

The older laughed, hands running through Jisung's hair, "let 'em try," he said and leaned in once again.

They never talked about it, they didn't have to. They were Chenle and Jisung, Jisung and Chenle, and they always would be. They didn't need to discuss or put labels on it, they didn't even need to decide what all of it was, all they had to do was laugh and smile and grow and _stay_ together, and they both knew that that would never, ever change. Chenle and Jisung, Jisung and Chenle. _Chenle and Jisung, Jisung and Chenle_. Jisung had said it before and he'd say it again - Jisung's world would always have space for Chenle, and he knew full well that Chenle's world would always have space for him, and well, that was all they needed. 

**Author's Note:**

> tip: if you're ever feeling angry, agitated, frustrated, or rebellious, blast any form of angry teenager music - and try your best to not reach out to your unhealthiest habits.


End file.
